Stranger by the minute

[smokingboot]

I don't mean mainstream media, which seems to be calming down. I mean the pocket of the social media I most often inhabit, where a collective brain aneurysm seems to be occurring. They have now moved from outrage at Trump to outrage at the Supreme Court. I have seen something like 40 shares/takes/memes based on responses to someone else's interpretation of the judgment, most of it unrelated to anything as dull as actually reading the judgment itself (https://supremecourt.uk/cases/judgments/uksc-2024-0042). They want the filter, the shortcut, the interpretation at which they can rage and be part of a larger group.

It makes me uncomfortable. I've known friends who cannot be honest with other friends, friends who feared physical repercussions of the punch-in-the-face kind, friends who feared losing their jobs/careers, friends facing social ostracism, censorship, and the demand for self-censorship. I'm seeing bullying from people who, on the one hand, berate the Trump administration for perceived attacks on free speech, while condoning or even participating in attacks on free speech themselves, deriding it as a concept when it doesn't agree with them. Justice becomes code for what they want the way they want it, and they have no problems whatsoever with coercing silence.

I am very surprised.

The complaint that makes me roll my eyes is that 'trans voices were not heard.' From what I understand of application to intervene to the Supreme Court, those who wish to do so must show that they can make a contribution to the wider legal argument, personal interest aside, which is why individuals just citing lived experience are unlikely to get permission. This applies to any case before the SC with regard to clarifying existing law, which is what this was about. Applications from representative/charity/advocacy groups are much more likely to be permitted. AFAIK not one of these UK groups applied to intervene. Their case was made by Amnesty International and the Scottish Government.

At the London protests last weekend, apart from defacing statues, there were placards calling for the return of witch burning for JK Rowling, that the only good TERF is a [insert noose] TERF, that someone liked urinating on TERFs etc, etc. One day this stuff is going to get someone killed.

It is possible to observe these things and be dismayed by them, while wishing dignity and safety for all members of our society, it is possible to record such concerns without being driven by hatred or phobia. But there are many people who feel they cannot speak/write as I do now. That's a bad look for any form of activism and brings hard kickback at the ballot box.